Orange store reports theft of almost 1000 gallons of gas

The Orange Police Department is investigating a series of gas thefts that the victim believes cost the convenience store close to $4000 and almost 1000 gallons of diesel fuel.

OPD Officer Patrick McDonald responded to a call from Crawdad's convenience store at 12099 Hwy 1442 in Orange on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at approximately 10:49 a.m. regarding three separate incidents in which diesel gas had been stolen from the store. The store manager and district manager met with officers and presented DVD recordings from three different dates, Nov. 24, Dec.1 and, most recently, Dec. 8. On each of those days, the store reportedly lost hundreds of gallons of gas amounting to a total of 977 gallons estimated to be valued at $3800.

Upon watching the DVDs, McDonald and the managers reported observing two tractor trailers pull up to pumps side-by-side, one blocking the camera's view of the other.

According to OPD Captain Cliff Hargrave, police are not yet certain how the gas was stolen or if the vehicles observed on the recordings were involved.

"We don't really know yet," Hargrave said. "They noticed some suspicious movements of some trucks, but we're not sure if they were involved. We don't know if they used a hose and ran it into the ground and pumped the gas that way or used an electronic device at the pump."

At this time, police have no suspects but were able to read a license plate from one of the vehicles the managers reported as suspicious.

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